Games Don't Last Forever
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- After Xbox’ DRM problems a few weeks ago I’ve been thinking more about the old Physical vs Digital media debate, and wanted to share some thoughts.
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My one problem is digital is the price of new games. If we look at the economy of production, a physical disc, the packaging, the cover art that needs to be printed. All that plastic. Shipping to stores. That justifies costs but a DIGITAL copy should NOT be the same price of a physical disc I am holding in my hand. It should be priced differently
I’ve been saying this for years.
In fact, part of the excuse why games went from $50 to $60 back in early 2000’s was to account for rising cost of packaging. It’s around that time a lot of companies stopped including the pamphlets that came with games as well.
They just keep trying to cut costs on their end while charging the consumer more for less.
Tbf most games that's not recent are usually on sale cheaper digital than physical
100% true
The cost of materials and shipping has virtually nothing to do the price of physical games. It all has to to do with retailers and the amount of physical space they have on their shelves or in their warehouses. If they have a bunch of physical copies of a game that isn't selling taking up space, they will drop the price to try to sell as many as possible to get them out so they can make room for new, more in-demand games. That is why physical media tends to drop in price faster. There is only so much space that Best Buy, Target and Walmart have and they cannot always ship unsold copies back to the publisher....they need to get rid of it and make SOMETHING back on it.
There are constant deals all the time, they usually go 50% off within a year
I love physical. There's just something very satisfying about having a tangible "thing". But it's getting harder and harder to be a physical lover with so many games released either broken on the disc or half a game due to planned removal of content to sell digitally down the track.
Sadly but there's no better investment seeing your library physically on your shelf.
They deliverately making games piecemeal to remove used games sales.
One of my favorite things is seeing people check to see if a game is CiB with modern games. I always found that part of collectors to be so obnoxious. It’s like do you like games or do you like stuff?
And this is why piracy will never die. Physical deteriorates over time and with digital you’re at the mercy of the provider. Not saying that is right, but people can still play PT because of it
It is right.
I mean.... you ain't wrong lol.
Piracy has it's place, definitely wrong to pirate newer games but if it's not on the market anymore there is absolutely no problem with downloading for free. Pirates are the only ones keeping game preservation alive.
@@TranqBase Nintendo might send they ninjas to you... You shouldn't pirate even if it is a 1980s game what they don't sell anymore! Kappa.
Console modding, emulation and ROM backups are essential to preserve video games. Without these, there is no physical copy that will save anything. I wish purists would understand this instead of worshipping physical discs as the second coming of christ.
Good luck to those with an original/classic Xbox, the optical disc drive there is on its last legs, regardless of the revision they have. Other consoles will eventually follow.
Personal opinion:
Emulation is the *best* way to preserve these games, especially beyond our lifetimes since both original hardware and original physical copies can degrade and fail overtime.
That and PC ports.
Yes
Not all of us likes that platform.
@@robertvisa94 how about emulation with original controllers?
It's a good opinion. The sad part is most old console's still work fine. My sega genesis from the 90s works. But retro gaming is so expensive nowadays.
So emulation is the best for not going broke. Lol
@@robertvisa94 You can't have your cake and eat it too. You either choose the platform that gives you more freedom and allows for proper game preservation, or you deal with consoles and losing your games to DRM and hardware/media degradation
Let's not forget Gran Turismo 7, a single-player game that must be connected to a server to work. When the servers are permanently shut down, even the physical game becomes worthless. I loaded up GT2 not long ago and was still able to play my original save file over 20 years later.
Hopefully GT7 can one day be hacked so it’ll always be playable
This why I never bought for honor.
Why would a SP game with no online multiplayer need to be connected?? Its the exact same thing with AC Odyssey. No multiplayer, but if my shitty internet is acting up, it can take several minutes just to get the Goddamn main menu screen to appear!
@@cadjebushey6524 There is online multiplayer, but the Sport Mode from Gran Turismo Sport is carried over, hence the online requirements. It's there to prevent hackers and cheaters.
@@adultmoshifan87 games like this usually survive on PC due to third-party servers and things like this. It’s a shame consoles don’t get much choice.
When there's a good emulator, emulation solves the weaknesses of both physical and digital "ownership." I don't think using a ROM is piracy if the publisher refuses to make the game available. Purchasing an expensive physical copy from a reseller, only benefits such reseller. When a publisher doesn't make a game available, using the ROM doesn't hurt them as they have no current financial ties to the game.
Totally agreed, especially since Publishers can even Close Access to Games via physical copies If they wanted to
High quality Emulation, undefeated.
Available for purchase is key, Nintendo’s rom rental doesn’t count since its extortion
@Nuke Russia Oh come on you know it's not the same lmao
@Nuke Russia it isnt because the Publisher doesnt dell the Games anymore .... So there would be nothing to "steal"
I still prefer the physical copy, in most cases the physical copy drops in price faster than the digital version! But if I can’t wait I’ll usually pick up a digital copy and later pick up a physical copy
year or two after release The digital version most of the time cost far more then a physical copy.
I can't understand how a digital version can cost 10 to even 30 dollars more a few years after release then the physical copy does.
@@neonrobin1702 that’s why I don’t like a all digital future YOU are giving all that power to them to decide pricing
Agree! physical 4ever.
I still regularly play my ps2 games, shadow of colossus, okami, and grandia 2 . Being the main ones.
I'll always buy physical games to always be able to play them! I also love going to gamestop to buy them because it gives me nostalgic memories and feelings of getting a game! I also love the box art they put in the front and back of the case of the game! I also love looking at the art on the game! 😁
The thing is though you won’t always be able to play them. I have a huge physical collection but also realize everything deteriorates over time. Things like carts and discs have a shelf life as much as it hurts to realize.
Just backup your games bro, it's very easy to do especially with wii and 3ds games
@@gogomonstertruck I got over 200 physical games spanning all the way back to the late 80s, all still working, consoles included, only recently my gamecube had a hiccup with its clock battery dying but thats about it. Take care of things and they will last your lifetime, as long as I can share it with my future family then it will always be the best solution.
Cant always play them. I own gran turismo 7 physically, but when they do maintenance, cant really play it. Plus most disc games now are license checks and you still have to download a portion of the game/its updates, so once the stores get shut down you wont be able to download that stuff anymore, therefore rendering games unplayable since they arent completely on disc anymore
@@VEN0M415 buddy, u were lucky. Thats it. Anyone that knows anything about data preservation knows that one sole copy stored is never a good way if you actually want to preserve storage forever. What if your house caught on fire? Would it then be your fault by not taking care of things?
We need digital (or physical) copies that nativly allow backups, like most PC store fronts allow.
There is a sweet middle ground between physical and digital, it's storing media on your own hard drives. GOG, cracks by pirates and emulators are wonderful solutions to combat games being forgotten in history.
If games ever go digital only im done buying new games. Some people live in isolated areas without access to broadband (maybe star link fixes this soon, who knows). Maybe my physical game will deteriorate over time, who knows. So far it’s all holding up good.
Yeah in my area starlink is at capacity till 2023 or later, and its gone up to 110 month. Only other options i have is limited gb hotspot data, horrible laggy regular satellite internet like viasat or hughsnet. Games that req digital to function or buy pretty much unplayable for me.
Look at Nintendo cartridges... 90% of them fire right up if they were taken care of.
I'd be willing to bet most discs are going to last a lifetime considering they're mostly rated for 50-100 years. Atari, NES & other carts will be the first to go as they're rated 50+ years and came out a decade or more before discs. It's possible that in the next 15-25 we'll start hearing about more and more early carts failing.
At the same time I wouldn't put it past Sony, MS and Nintendo to create a disc/cart that degrades after 10-20 years just so they can sell the same game over and over again whenever they figure out how to do just that lol. Unless subscription takes over then surely they'll be happy milking those classic titles once enough buy into the sub model.
@@sarges1712 yeah, im curious how long blu ray discs will last. I already have some dvds getting disc rot
I go physical exclusively for games nowadays outside emulation.
Sadly, even physical release doesn't ensure you'll be playing a game as it's intended. I mean, sure, you can play MK11 on Switch out Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 physically, but you'll be missing a lot of content (making them unplayable without the day-1 patch needed for them).
@@qchtohere8636 lol what
@@chrisarrieta4947 If game not on disk then disk worthless
That clear?
@@qchtohere8636 That's not the fault of the physical medium, but of the programmers tho....
@@fumomofumosarum5893 You mean publishers.. But to be fair, digital distribution is much better for digital content delivery and in a fair world you would own what you pay for (ie. DRM-free installers).
Also, friendly reminder that faulty physical media is a thing, and the more time passes, the more probable it is.
My girlfriend recently got into gaming. I lent her my PS4 now that the PS5 has arrived and the fact that I can lend her the PHYSICAL copies of games for her to enjoy is great. This actually even means that she can buy a game for the PS4 that both of us will enjoy and then we can "swap" them.
And last but not least, it's the "ritual" of going to a store, choosing a game and bringing it home to pop it into the console and play. It's a whole different experience. And one that I enjoy much more.
And you can still sell that game in the future.
Digital is not worth it physical has it problems too but I can sell and lend out my games with digital ha ha ha 😂I can't
Did you know that when you buy digital DRM-free games you can also do that?
@@Thornskade Still sell the game? Or still share the game? (I don't know to who or what you are replying to.)
I'm fairly certain while it is possible to both share a DRM free game, and sell said DRM free copy... it's not legal for a digital game, like it is for a physical copy.
@@Mac_Omegaly What? It doesn't matter how the game data is delivered to you, physical or digital, in both cases you bought one license for use on one system at a time. The legal system does not differentiate between physical and digital software delivery.
As a person who prefers digital, physical games matter, I can't stress this enough. I can easily download a game off Steam, but some digital-only games get delisted. Scott Pilgrim is a perfect example. That game was gone for 10 whole years.
The game got a re-release, both digital and physical. If it gets delisted again, we'll have a physical copy. I have a bunch of physical DS and 3ds games that sure I can emulate on my PC or phone, but I'd rather preserve my DS/3ds games. Plus, I'm trying to build my collection, and add GBA games to the mix
I always lean towards physical if I can, especially since I've been into retro collecting lately. However, I also buy a lot of digital games because they can be dirt cheap compared to the physical counterparts. I recently bought a Wii U since the eshop was closing and managed to snag a bunch of Virtual Console titles for about $100. Each game was $5 - $10 which is a hell out a lot cheaper than paying $150 for a physical copy of one Mega-Man Battle Network game on the GBA. So digital definitely has it's place especially since I spend half my time gaming on PC and I don't exactly have an option there.
Well, history has shown that physical last way longer than the digital store fronts
@@redwingdog22 disc rot and faulty cartridges are a real thing too. Also not all digital stores have short lifespans. Nintendo and Sony aren’t the same as Xbox and Steam when it comes to that. Not defending digital over physical, just conflicted like a lot of people.
@@valoric4767 yeah if you let them in heavey humidity and not stored properly
@@ThaexakaMavro well even the oils from your hands can single handedly cause disc rot. I can personally attest to that. Also some discs rot faster all on their own like Wii U disc and cheaply made ones.
That's why I play a lot of my retro games on PC with emulation I can just backup my games and then have them forever and buying used retro games is always a bit of a gamble because a lot of the games are got were not working I haven't even touched my Wii U because my PC and play all those games and at better frame and higher resolutions
I like a mix of both. Digital and physical both deserve to exist.
And handeld better by companies
I just want to keep my stuff around until my time comes.
Neither do we, sadly. When we die, someone has to figure out what to do with all our physical belongings. Our enjoyment of a game is a fleeting memory held briefly (in relative terms) by a dying brain. Owning things gives us a comforting illusion of permanence which is, unfortunately, not true.
That's deep 🥲
disliked for making me cry
@@fritzthecat8158 It's a bit sad that conversation about life angers you to the point of dismissing it as "armchair philosophy." I wrote what I wrote from the perspective of someone who already hasn multiple times the number of games, movies, books, musical albums, TV series, etc. than I can possibly experience in the rest of my life. Meanwhile, I have spent far too few hours in the arms of a woman. These thoughts are thus naturally on my mind, not some attempt to impress random strangers with my profundity or pretentiousness.
@@Randomstuff33688 Of course, no one knows for sure. It doesn't seem plausible to me, but if you wish to continue and reconnect after the loss of your body, I hope you're right!
If we're going that direction, then everything we enjoy is a fleeting memory. And when we die, we leave more important things behind than just a game collection, I'll tell you that.
“Physical games don’t last forever” 😒 Over here still playing game cartridges for the Atari 400 and 2600 systems that were printed in the 1970’s. 😏 They’re seemingly aging no worse for wear than Milla Jovovich. That’s close enough to forever, as far as I’m concerned about that.
Atari 400??
@@cadjebushey6524 Yeah it’s the equally old, but more powerful micro computer. There was even a step up from that, the Atari 800 too. The graphics and sound are way better, and it takes, carriages, tape, drives, floppy discs, and run BASIC, and stuff.
@@WizardClipAudio oh. I forgot Atari made computers too. Whenever I think of 80s computers, its always Apple II or Commodore 64.
Amen
one of the things i would add is that physical media will eventually die. i’m not talking about the physical vs digital war. i’m talking about the physical degradation of media. disk rot is an issue that will never be solved. while we can always make backups of all our favorite games, the most any of the disks we own now in 100 years will be mere art of a flat donut. the art of preservation will never truly be completed.
same with digital because the cloud isn't always safe and even if stored on a hard drive or solid state drive they get old to its an unfixable problem kinda.
Yeah, and no one really wants to fix disk rot. At least, not anyone big
@@mariodelrio2387 disk rot will never not be a problem. the ionization of disks is inevitable, you can only write 50k-1million times to an ssd and when put into storage, only a few years. while hard drives seem to last decades when not powered, they do still die.
the concept of degradation entropy is one of humanities unending curse.
@@spadesofpaintstudios1719 you can always move over the cloud data to a new drive, but if its severe enough, it could be lost forever.
It'll disappear just as quickly as digital media since companies don't want to spend money to keep the servers up. Xbox has a leg up because it belongs to Microsoft.
I have got 578 physical games in my collection, from PSX to PS5, from Xbox to Series X, from WiiU to Switch... Would never change for any digital editions EVER. I cannot imagine a situation when I would not be able to play any of my games... Sure, when my console gets broken, I would understand this but to be unable because of DMR or something similar... unacceptable.
I love a happy medium between physical and digital(exluding retro games cause the market is bananas) .Also physical copies tend to go on sale more often also for gifts its more satisfying to give or receive a physical thing and not just a digital code.
The biggest problem with physical is that media can and does fail, even if you keep it in immaculate condition.
There are things such as disc rot and even pressing errors with discs that may not cause issues initially but that can cause failure eventually.
On the digital side of things the biggest issue for me is the mediocre sale pricing, at least on consoles.
It’s a struggle. I have always preferred physical over digital, but my primary console’s store (switch) tends to put games for 50% off if not more for digital versions, making it nearly impossible to beat that price with a physical copy. It gets even more frustrating when you go buy a physical copy and then later on go to buy the accompanying DLC’s only to find out that it’s significantly cheaper to buy everything (including the game itself) in a bundle from the digital store. (looking at you BB:CTB).
Scarlet nexus same thing
My big problem with physical now is they're not representative of the final product unless there is reissue/re-release of down the line which is not a guarantee. When was the last time you bought a game that didn't have a major patch within the first three months? Most have a day one patch just to work! If physical is gonna stick around it has to be functional and not a glorified install disc that isn't even the complete game.
Totally get the urge to cling to games once you have them. For every 10 games I get rid of, there's 1 or 2 that I've regretted. Your tastes change in the long term, and your moods change in the short term, and there's no telling what genre you'll get into years from now, and no telling what genre you'll get bored of this year, so the only way to mitigate that is simple- don't sell ANY.
I feel your pain. I’ve sold games over ten years ago that still haunt me to this day for getting rid of. Big gaming regrets.
I never got rid of my games thankfully
I suffer a few impulse buys over time and when I go to get rid of them that's when a couple casualties get caught in the mix. It happens a lot less often nowadays since the world has been on a video game snatching spree.
I’ve sold a good chunk of my retro collection recently. I don’t have time to play ALL of the games. My thought process is, if I sell anything and TRULY miss it that bad, I’ll buy it again. I’m starting to want to collect quality over quantity. Having a bunch of games just to say you have them isn’t for me. But having a bunch that you have some personal or nostalgic connection to and truly enjoy, even if you only have 1/3 of the games in your collection, THAT is what matters, at least to me.
@@jerminator0688 I'm the same way, constantly purging stuff that gets buried by better games. Only problem is, a year or two goes by and you change your mind and the damn game tripled in price lol
I set up personal rules to make sense of a lot of this stuff. If it's a single-player game I'll complete, be done with, and might want to replay in years to come, I'll typically buy a physical copy. If it's a multiplayer game, a big ongoing service or something I'm not so attached to, digital is fine. If something's over two generations old, it's fair game to emulate, but I'll feel guilty if it's newer than that. The ability to sell a game is more important to me than amassing a collection, but I'm still very attached to a lot of old favourites and having good options when I want to turn on an old console.
Not suggesting anyone else should adopt my attitude to this stuff, but it's helpful to put some thought into how you acquire games and what works best for you in the long term.
I game the same way.
Even for a “penny”? Give me 1-3 examples of Xbox/PS games can be resold decently.
Now as far as Nintendo, I can see your point well.
Yeah I’m just getting into switch gaming and I think I’m going mostly physical
One thing underappreciated about our physical stores is that it creates a filter of quality. The stores need to stock the best games and don't want to be over-flooded with inferior product they can't sell.
This is my main lament about all those independent record stores closing down. They did a very good job of filtering out the crap, and offering not just quality product, but the opportunity for customers to save time endlessly browsing for new material. A well laid out storefront would also encourage customers to experiment within other genres too. Sometimes you could find really quirky material on the cheap, by browsing their bargain bin section.
Physical games is what I started with. There was a few years that I did get my games digital. But recently a few years ago I went back to Physical games. I now have the room to display them. And now even more with the DRM issues that happened with Xbox. My only concern is disk rot, and next generation.
Yup, it's been around since the 360.
All digital is a horrible idea if you really stop and think about it.
Owning physical games is great. Not only you get a real thing that you paid for but you can also borrow it to a friend , trade or sell. Screw digital.
And lets not forget how many people will loose their jobs because of digital crap.
You can also borrow digital Games 😉
Btw, physical Games are dying
Let’s not call scalping a job.
@Andrew Vazquez borrowing depends on the Platform, on some you can Just Share the Games, Others Like Nintendo arent that consumer friendly (which sucks)
@@livesinalazywonderland4021 Im referring to the people that work making disks, cartridges, cases, covers, the people that transport the games to stores and the people that work at stores. And there's plenty more.
@@100silencer Its not the same and physical games will only dye if we let them dye. If we all stop being not very smart and stop buying digital games at the same price as physical, the companies will not stop making physical games. Its up to us.
I've taken to building out my physical collection as ownership is a big deal but I also backup the games for 1) emulation and 2) having all the advantages of digital games but none of the disadvantages. The only issue is the time and effort to back up certain system games. It's all worth it to play them on my Q3 Steam Deck reservation. One day...
Physical >
What is really frustrating is when you find content on your hard drive that you did not download . I found a whole season of a show that I want to say was called Powers on my hard drive .
I completely agree!
I tried gamepass on pc and I never completed/committed even one! But prior to that I’ve played and completed all the games that I’ve bought.
My problem with physical is storage problem. Really I really don’t like how many games looks at one place. Digital games makes me worried because how companies don’t care about you owning it digitally and protecting that right to play anytime when you log in. This is bigger fear for me because the consoles some time last 20 years but software games does not because the company’s care till profitable. This brings people their face how companies are not their friends. Again, this is companies fault. If they were a tech that shows us everything we buy online and can keep it as long as we have the console for that generation, who really loves to have 5000 games in total while you can keep all of those games in one pc. So if companies can be less greasy, people would prefer digital more and more
My biggest complaint with digital is out of sight out of mind.
Another thing bad about digital is that has less value mentally. It just become one more icon on your menu amongst so many others. If we could customize how we organize digital games that would help a ton.
Also! If there was some way of making digital games “uncopiable”, would solve most DRM problems. But that isn’t as easy as it seems. Would be great tho, you would only need to download the game 1 time and then move it from drive to drive to free space on your system. But wouldn’t be possible to duplicate, preventing piracy. This way would let you manage the digital game just like a real one, even trade games to friends.
Guy I know has an intellivision since it was new, he still plays it and all the cartridges work very well because he took care of it and honestly its not that hard to do so Physical wont last long, but enough for us to enjoy it with our kids and potentially grandkids. In the best timeline these game companies would appreciate fans dedication to their brand and its games and allow us to buy new blank cartridges or discs and sell us hardware to transfer the data from our original cartridges/discs to these new versions.. in the best timeline. Sadly greed is the goal now and our wallets will be sucked dry if we want any joy, emulation definitely will become the norm and its good but sad to see.
L1T luls
You can build a gameboy tho
Ah, cartridges yes, but disk rot
@@crashmat1042 That rarely happens to game discs overall but yeah sucks when it happens, but disc rot more so is a problem for blank discs people put family videos or photos on. Has to do with the way the data is put on a disc from a factory vs from a pcs cd drive.
@kevin kenson. Thank you so much for this video. I have been worrying for quite a while in losing digital PS4 and Switch digital games down the road. Especially with the uncertainty of re-downloading DS games you already bought. I have been buying digital movies lately because it's a pain to watch movies on a streaming service, then all of a sudden they are gone. It would be nice if we bought whatever digital that we own it forever, but of course that's not a 100% true. I know its not all on the corporations who sell them, but it is a big part on them. They might not make more money down the road, but they would have more brand loyalty if they made digital purchases ours for our lifetime. No matter what the format is.
The thing is, even though I prefer physical releases, I've decided to go full digital on this gen. Games that are complete and in good shape in disc are rare these days and some require internet access anyways.
But thats not even the real main point. What will happen to my physical library when consoles do in fact turn 100% digital? What about the inevitable physical media decay over time? My personal conclusion is: Build your library digitally on the platform that shows more commitment with game preservation (xbox and GOG imo) and keep in mind that the only reliable and viable way to preserve gaming history to future generations is emulation.
Funny, I kinda went the other way with Ninty Switch and buy as much physical as logical (obviously not gonna pay 30€ for a 500MB game that's often on sale for 5€ in the eShop). But mostly because there is seldom an install/download needed (except Ubisoft and EA games etc, which always cheap out and pretty much just put a demo on it with first map/level/game out of 3)).
(Mostly 'gather around the fire and let me tell a story' from here on....)
With PS3 the line between if physical or digital was better, was already blurring for me with the regular 1/2h mandatory install. For me the the biggest upside of consoles was 'you just put in the game and play'. But with PS3 all physical and digitally (installed) games will at least still work. You could also backup to an external HDD. With PS4 and PS5, ones CMOS battery dies and it can't get the current time/date from the store..you won't be able to play any games anymore...not even physical ones iirc.
Xbox seems to have a way better backwards compatibility and even allows most games from your xbox account to be played on PC. No idea about any DRM stuff on those consoles though, but afaik you can still play first XBOX games on newest one.
On PC, most (new) games aren't even sold physical anymore and since they're usually on install DVD's (6MB/s) and most people 'in the west' seem to have 100Mbit internet (12MB/s) .. it's just way easier and faster to just buy digitally. I also don't think SteamStore is going anywhere anytime soon. (Unlike most console stores which seem to be shutdown 'all the time'). It has Voice chat, group chat, 'clan' support, easy way to join friends' games, reviews, MOD workshops, RemotePlay, RemotePlay couchcoop MP (who don't need to own the game) .. hell, even BigScreen or their own OS if you want more of a console experience.... In general, it's quite a good platform imho and often just use it to chat and hangout.
Good Old Games / GOG mostly focusses on preserving old games and keeping them working on newer systems. They also don't use any DRM, so great for backing up and modding etc. I'm not a huge fan of the store, but Galaxy 2.0 is imho best way to keep track of the 6-8 stores orso on PC as it can connect with all of them and thus have 1 place to view entire library.
Epic I mostly use for the weekly free games, doesn't have cload save on most/all games. Only game I bough on it was MechWarrior 5, which I still need to manually copy over savegames from old computer...
Origin EA, UbiSoft are even more annoying than Epic to use... hardly bot those up twice a year (think I didn't even have Origin installed on my 7y/o computer, until last year (so 6 years of not using it).
Which brings me back to Ninty Switch. Being a pretty power efficient device, I bought loads of cheap simple indies on it.I never bothered with those much, as my old computer pretty much ran 100W idle. And since the shop is so overwhelmed, prices drop quite fast to stay in the 'top lists', which funnily I never use...I just check the sales each week. ;)
I've also always been a fan of handhelds (even bought a 2nd hand GBA, new backlit screen with glass protector, new case and buttons this year as a 2nd GBA (My OG has frontlit Afterburner mod)).
Anyhoo, in contrast to most consoles atm, usually it has all the data on the cart (although day1 patches and extra DLC are quite common), so it still has quite a bit of that 'cart in and play' feeling. The biggest downside of it is, that it has no external backup capability, but with all big 1 player games on the 500GB (which I usually finished) and all the extra data for cartridges (with the rest of the games) on a 1TB MicroSD..I've got all games stored and accessible playle locally. And my Switch library actually exceeds my Steam library atm, with still around 1/4th on cartridge.
tl;dr:If you need a lengthy install before being able to play a game, can you still call it a console game? 2nd is resellable, will you ever sell your games? How about when you need money all of a sudden? Do you value a finished game the same as physical as you do digitally?
PS :When PC games were still in boxes I loved to just look at them from time to time and remember how the game was like. Sometimes taking it out and flip the manual or check the ad flyers ... I simply value digital games WAY lower and only ever buy a digital game on sale.
I also miss manuals, pretty sure they still had at least digital ones on Vita...the little extra background stories and artwork were usually really worth it, especially with older games where it was used to entice other people (friends that came over and watch you play a game, would often want to check the manual to see what it's all about etc).
@@CommDante well said! Maybe due to the portable nature of the console, switch games usually are complete in cartridge. That's super cool in my opinion. I also agree on your views about consoles, games being "plug and play" is a feature that I miss a lot and was a great thing of past gens. To be honest with you, I don't have a strong and reasonable argument to keep a Xbox and a PS around when you have a good enough pc. Yet, here I am using all of them lol.
Indeed, there are still some good cases to be made for physical realeases. I can completely understand the value of holding a game in hands, the box art and papers. My dream would be to have a physical media that allow updates to it, would be great!
@@GuilhermeMuller_01
I think strongest reasons for having them all are the exclusives and perhaps a bit of nostalgia for the older consoles. But more and more exclusives seem to release on PC too these days. And modern consoles don't have unique CPU's etc anymore either so porting is often a breeze. The GC, Wii and WiiU had PowerPC iirc and PS3 that weird 6core which was rather hard to design for. These days it's pretty much all standard PC architectures, except for Switch which has an ARM / mobile cpu.
And on PC one is (usually) still able to play decades old games, where digital on console stores seem to be kind of depended on the whims of the console creator.
My biggest worry with all digital is if you build up a big enough library of games and have your account gets hacked you will end up loosing thousands of dollars in videogames just because someone hacked your account oddly enough I don't hear people ever mention anything about that
That is why Physical discs are Important
no u can always get your account back if u have credit card info that u used to purchase all of those games and as well as the original email
Emulation and piracy will always preserve what companies want to recharge you for or hide in their vault (or even cases of licensing limbo, like you mentioned)
And, from a company's perspective, what should be done is that a some sort of Netflix/Spotify subscription style service should be provided that becomes as all encompassing as possible, in terms of including previous game libraries. If Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo did this, or even found a way to provide a combined game pass service for all 3 of the company's backlogs, a lot of people would be fine with paying a monthly or yearly fee to acess to it.
Sidenote, not all games should be streamed, some would definitely need to be downloaded fully or mostly to be played with low lag/latency. The storage requirements from the ps4 gen onward could turn prohibitive fast, but I think that's really inevitable with games at this point.
Also, if you could pay an additional individual fee to get access to individual games offline, A LOT of people would pay to have their fav's available at all times.
Any console that offers/offered digital only titles is problematic from a preservation and collectible perspective. So I choose to collect only consoles that were physical only. For current gen/modern, I'm 100% digital. I traded in my PS4 and all my games and now just have a Series S. I have my separate retro setup (NES, Genesis, Sega CD, etc.) and then my Series S incorporated into my WFH desk setup. Having a library of discs with incomplete data that don't work without an internet connection makes zero sense. Plus, the packaging is so bare bones that it's just not worth it.
People that love talking badly about digital media, forget that those aren't problems that digital medias necessarily have, those are bad consumer practices that some companies have, that may get mitigated by physical media. Digital media doesn't necessaily have to have these issues. Many PC digital stores for example have many less issues, game preservation conserns that many people have with digital media, well, steam provides a backup game tool that allows you to backup your games to CDs even if you want to, or just store it in a hard drive or the cloud, making it a lot better preserved than one original CD copy in your house, so pretty much all issues except not beeing able to resell games, and not having a cool thing to put in your shelf, can be fixed in digital media.
your forgetting its only preserved if its not corrupted data.
Using steam as example is terrible idea. You still need to online connect just activate your backup game unless it's drm free.
@@bluetooth2677 I didn’t even know that
@@spadesofpaintstudios1719 You will still need to have steam installed and online connection to verify the game again. I tested it serval time's.
It sucks but guess that what steam wants.
@@bluetooth2677 many games are DRM free, and pc is an open platform, u can just install cracks (cracks aren't illegal), as I do to every single player game I own
Also that is also a problem with modern console fisical copies
Physical is the way to go I started off with physical and it’s going to stay that way
Unless physical media finally goes extinct and digital media makes a huge rise up to the sky
I generally do prefer getting physical games but I don't mind getting digital games as well.
I live in southeast asia and when elden ring came out it available in all regional languages but not in english, but I bought a physical copy of it so I was able to quickly exchenge it for the english version but my friends bought the digital copy and even till this day they have not got any refund, exchange or an english update. This made me appriciate the digital copies even more.
I kind of messed up by being 80% digital on my Switch library. Something about owning it physically just seems better now & i ended up double dipping on some titles because I already owned them digitally & wanted them physically now. I have a fear of IF something happened to the servers & can’t access games that are digital anymore.
The bright side is that I am buying physical games I already own digitally when they are at least 40% off. 30% if the game really warrants it.
Your cartridges will faul eventually so the fear of Server outages isnt a one sided story
If on Steam, you haven't really messed up. You can always backup games folders and find patches to run them offline (if those games aren't already DRM free, which you'd be surprised most indie games are with you only having to find the executable).
Now, if you got games on consoles (even physically: remember day-1 patches and mandatory DLC), it's time you start learning about torrents and emulation.
@@qchtohere8636 the Lord has spoken, AMEN
@@qchtohere8636 there are a surprising amount that don't need day 1 patches or dlc to play completely through. Those will be the ones worth something in the future i think.
@@kcadventures1454 ... as long as no "Definitive Edition" is released.
Seriously though, name 3 games in the last 5 years that will be complete one the console related download service goes offline.
I love digitally for retro games because you don’t have to dedicate an entire floor of your house to play those games. Oh and you can get them for free with much more convenient ways to play them.
Seeing that short clip from double dash is so sad.. I loved that game. I would love to play that on my switch.
Things like that is why I go with PC handhelds like the Steam Deck. You'll be old and wrinkled before Nintendo even considers giving you any of the games you want to replay
@@Thornskade The Steam Deck only just released and you have to wait months in a digital queue/line just to get the chance to even purchase one. People will be old and wrinkled before they even get their hands on one. Valve makes great products, but boy do they need a better handle on distributing them. It's the Valve index all over again.
@@jase276 Uh, no. If you order now you get one at the end of the year. It is both guaranteed and not that long. It is also in stark contrast to, and has nothing to do with Nintendo releasing not even a fraction of their old games and potentially waiting forever for them to do it.
Maybe you forgot but we're in a chip shortage. Most people agree that Valve's method of simply guaranteeing you a system in order of reservation is far better than the free-for-all gamble of trying to get a current-gen console or graphics card. It is analogous to a shop that wants an ordered queue and has you start back at the line, versus a black friday sale where people trample over one another and some people never get anything hard as they might try.
I recently picked up an original used copy of Chrono Trigger for DS to play on my 3DS. After loseing access to many games I bought digitally on the Wii, I now really focus on buying physical on anything I want to keep long term.
REVOLT AGAINST AN ALL DIGITAL FUTURE
the thing with the pc side of digital is you can get the games to work even when servers go down.star wars battlefront 2 (2005), those servers were non existant for a long time, but the modding community hosted some that allowed you to still play multiplayer until steam started some
Physically games gang like this comment
My biggest reason for Physical games is if a game is something that I am not sure I will like I get it physically so that I can sell it later on to recoup some money. Plus you can find games alot cheaper USED.
Great line of thought! Personally, I buy physical in the case of all those games I know I'll want to replay some time down the line (anything Kojima, Resident Evil, etc.), and go for digital with everything else.
I buy all my games digital, I just make sure there is no DRM. No issue replaying those down the line. In fact, I have digitized all my old physical CDs and DVDs because that's much more convenient than having to keep swapping disks, and it prevents losing games to media degradation. Yes, I still have a disk drive in my PC
Awhile back I lost access to my original PS4 account due to gameshare issues, I had GTA V installed at the time so when I made a new account I decided to buy the game again but physically. Even if I lose my account again and my saves, I won’t have to shell out for another copy.
I don’t have an issue with digital more the DRM practices which could easily be relaxed. The GOG model works well allowing users to back up their games DRM free. If the servers go down then I always have a copy available.
Also doesn't help for those of us who live in areas with low internet speeds and can't download the latest games, patches and updates. Buying digital or physical of any new game requires internet just to even play on day 1.
I realised this when I find out my Uncharted Collection disc got corrupted on the side of the outer circumference.. it really hit me pretty hard as I'm someone who find great joy building physical game collection. But after that, I really have been considering purchasing my games digitally in the near future. What's the point of owning physical if they'll end up decaying with time.
What’s the point of buying digital when the right to play goes down with server verification shutdown?
@@redwingdog22 why not pirate it, both your problems solved, and you get a free virus too!
Maybe take care of your game's little better? My nephews leave there game's everywhere out of the cases. All of them still work fine.
@@redwingdog22 not all digital games work like that
All digital games are potentially free ( if you sail on the seas). It’s not the case with physical copy. So physical copies have inherent added value
Physical you can have free as well. Bootleg copies were a thing remember
For the most part, you do not own digital games you purchased, they may as well be an NFT. You have access to the game only for as long as the licensor allows it. You can't even download your Wii and DSi purchases anymore. It's happened with other games on other systems too.
Physical media has its own issues like disc rot, scratches, and modern games often ship incomplete or buggy and require digital content like patches to be downloaded.
hopefully physical versions dont extinct. recently i bought digital games for my switch worth 100$. in the end, i didnt like them but cannot sell them and so i "lost" 100$...
I always buy physical. 👍
having the ability to rip the disc to hdd would be the way to go for me personally,like the 360,or a modded ps3 with multiman.Best of both.
me in 2999 trying to play morbius the physical edition (it made 40 morbillion dollars)
The shocking part is that they added DRM to all console and event the event expire date to prevent thief in game.
my issue with digital has always been that physical degrades with time, while digital degrades when the company decides you no longer have access to it but with modern games the day 1 patch generally makes physical pointless.
Not all digital games are like that. You have DRM-free options on PC, not on console but it shows that it doesn't have to be that way. We should push against digital DRM so we can have the best of both worlds, but instead most people don't even understand the problem and think digital is the issue period.
@@Thornskade it pretty much is the same for pc digital games as well, if steam closed shop tomorrow every game you bought on their would be gone as well.
now whether they will or not is different but our collection are still at the mercy of others
@@gd3710 No, it's not the same. DRM-free games would just continue to work. Did you read anything I said?
For every other game you can use a Steam emulator, so it's barely a concern.
@@gd3710 got a 48tb hdd here I have no worry cuz i dont delete my game
@@gd3710ever heard of GOG, its just an installer with an exe file and thats all no need for a launcher.
It bothers me that a modern physical game won't contain the finished game most times due to essential patches. Some might be ok but most will be disappointing if decades later you put a disc in a console and the update patches aren't available.
If the video games industry acted more like the movie and music industries, and not just ignore their back catalog, I would be more keen on buying digital. In fact I do buy most of music digitally and all of my movies. PC gaming is still not on par with these two, but is leaps and bounds ahead of the consoles. I get that updating this to the new hardware is time consuming and therefore costs money, but if I can still play Temple Run on my current iPhone, why can’t I play Paper Mario Thousand Year Door on my Switch?
Who tf buys movies in 2022 lol
iPhone is a weird example. I lost most of my iOS games I used to play on my iPod Touch, Apple is just as terrible as Nintendo when it comes to supporting old games, and they've even gone out of their way to prevent iOS emulators via bribing or hiring people involved with such projects
Honestly I’m the same way. If I can get my hands on a physical copy of the game I will. But in a fair amount of cases that digital version can sometimes be cheaper than the physical version. And when that happens I usually get the digital version rather than the physical one.
I buy my games this exact way. (usually)
I think this guy prefers scamming people digitally
Uh, yeah actually, when bought physically and treated with care they do. Like my PS1 and copy of Castlevania Symphony of the Night that's still absolutely flawless and runs well, or my GBC that's older than I am yet still functions like new? And obviously carts last longer lemme tell ya CDs are a pain to keep unscratched and functional, but carts? I guarantee in 100 years my copy of Pokémon Black 2 will work just fine. My N64 copy of Zelda OoT is still chuggin away just fine, and will likely stay that way forever.
@MenaceInc
Continue to see the glass as half full & you’ll go thirsty…
Eventually it will always come down to emulation. No game, digital or physical will last forever. Ultimately piracy will be the only reason you'll be able to play MikeTyson punch out in 2085. Copyright laws exist only to assist companies in making money. That money isn't going to matter to anyone 150 years from now.
Physical all day. Digital is for virgins
Chad will buy games digital because he doesn’t care about the price or longevity.
@@KnucklesWTD true
@@KnucklesWTD disc rot exists
I end up buying a digital game first and if I like it, I’ll purchase a physical copy and keep it factory sealed…..forever.
You will own NOTHING and be HAPPY! 🙃
It's simple really. If you don't want your gaming experience to turn into some strange type of social credit system, where corporations control what you play, and how you play, plus you'll never have true ownership ever again. Then don't buy digital.
I'd buy digital games on sale and if they are of games I had traded back a long time ago but now costs LESS than the value of what I traded them for when they were physicals, I'd buy them.
Really good opinions all around. I'm still of two minds on the matter as in the last few years I've embraced digital for its convenience but now I just want to see that physical collection grow on my shelf again.
im so sad. i've been uploading on youtube since 2007, over 8700k videos but only 80k subs. For some reason youtube buries, hides and kills my channel. i get only 1 sub per day. I contacted with youtube support naming the reasons this is happening one by one but they dont care and never give a solution. It makes me feel really sad , depressed and want to stop creating content, quit on youtbe, something i really loved doing half my life.
That is why I am lucky enough my dad kept everything having to do with the consoles he had as a kid. So while I don't have every game I would like to play I have a good collection to choose from.
Companies have been trying to phase out physical games for a while now, whether they wanted to or not. I mean, try booting up a game from today, 20 years from now. Think they'll still have that day one patch available for download that makes an otherwise unfinished, broken game playable? Rushed and unfinished games with day one patches are the real killers here.
Why am I not seeing anyone mention if you get your account hacked you lose all your digital games? They can't take my physical game collection unless they come rob me or a natural disaster happens lol.
I’m not worried about this. Rpcs3 have almost playable catalogue. By the time ps5 stores shut down they will be emulated. There is no reason to worry about not being able to play a game in the future.
I do worry because there is still no iOS emulation, not for a lack of trying but because Apple seems to keep bribing or hiring people who start developing emulators for their hardware. I have lost several games I had on iOS because my iPod Touch is dead now and I had no way to back anything up as newer iOS versions dropped support for older games. And I don't buy iPhones to begin with.
It is not the case now, but there is a chance that Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo could start doing such things in the future, or come up systems so difficult to emulate that there'd never be a reasonably playable emulator
@@Thornskade Seriously you are worried about iOS? I've been a gamer ever since and there is no game in iOS that I'd care if I lose it. About making things difficult to emulate, I doubt it will happen. PS3 and Xbox 360 were thought to be hard to emulate heck even PS2 was hard to emulate back in the day but now it runs on phones. Technology will keep improving, even if it's not by emulation it will be offered via game service like Game Pass or PS Plus. Don't forget about remasters. FF1-6 have been released to newer systems. GTA have been re-released over and over again. I believe if you just want to play a game there will always be a way and this will be the same in the future. You will only buy physical discs if you're a collector which I'm not because I don't like clutter.
@@syunukiya I could ask you the same thing: You care about 360 and PS3? I don't even care about PS4, 5 and whatever the Xboxes are called.
I wasn't strictly speaking of the difficulty of creating emulators. Just the fact that Apple shuts down emulation like that, is worrying. The higher-ups at Microsoft and Sony just need to be willing to hire randoms and fork out the money. Who knows, maybe that already happened.
How old is the PS3? Was it from 2006? That's 16 years and many games still don't run properly. That's insane.
Emulation is clearly a bandaid solution. Games being stuck on proprietary out-of-production hardware kinda sucks.
I do not understand buying digital games that can be emulated/Yar-har-har'd. Either own the OG cartridge or emulate it, paying $15 bucks to play a digital version of Links Awakening on the switch is smooth brained as heck when you can get it on your phone for free.
4.3 reso is interesting, clearly a fellow retro gamer. i respect that mate
The real true way of owning games that has the benefits of physical and digital is piracy. It preserves the game and you own it. This is the truth and with the recent de listing of media, piracy will be required! Companies become too greedy with the advent of online connectivity with games.
Digital wouldnt be a problem if they honored purchases through generations.
Pc solved this years ago, why do i need a special edition for ps5 for same game with fps unlocked?
It still isn't really fixed. Older games tend to have problems. For example, Prototype was designed to run on up to a 4 core CPU. If I try running it on my R7 3700X, an 8 core CPU, Prototype will crash. I have to go into the BIOS and disable 4 cores. Sure, there is always a solution on PC but it's not always as easy as just running the game on PC.
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But now even when I have a physical disc I still need to download patches or install the game. There's no longer any manuals or cool physical stuff. All the downsides, none of the upside.
Congrats this is the first video I have seen with 5k
Plus it's not like the companies are gonna give you internal storage space that makes sense to store your digital games or pay your internet bill to run the cloud version. The best part about the physical games is that the Internet around the world can literally be shut down and if your game runs without it you could still play .
one major issue with digital only media is the closed marketplaces with no competition, that allows people like sony to drive up the price of games. on PC, and to a lesser extent xbox, you can get discounted codes for games from online marketplaces like G2A, but if you have a digital only playstation you are stuck paying playstations inflated costs, that do not reduce over time and see people paying release prices for games years later, when their PC and physical media versions are half price or less.
You make some good points, and articulate them well - I'm a physical copy type myself, but I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention the limitations of the cartridge format in particular: the contacts wear out. A disc is relatively easy to preserve with just regular cleaning, but old cartridges will just start dropping data. And it's a real shame, because things like that are why constant rereleases happen, but such things also draw attention to the rift between what the devs want and what the consumers want.
You and I are consumers, we want to buy something and have it - and even with digital items, we can have that as long as we don't go deactivating our accounts, most games will still run even if they're delisted from the shop, they can run natively. But the devs are running a business and if they're gonna put work into porting a game, they want to get paid for it. Not to mention the cost of physical media is the reason digital games are able to go on sale so often, there's really no loss in it after a certain point as compared to a physical copy.
So yeah, I do _prefer_ physical, but I do find myself increasingly appreciating the digital format as time goes on. Depending on how PS3 and eventually PS4 handles digital media once the consoles themselves are obsolete and not supported, that might become the superior medium. We'll just have to see.
I have a feeling I will not be buying a new playstation system but will keep my ps4 for many more years and replay old games
Digital is a SCAM... we need updated consumer friendly laws on Digital
My digital version of Shadow of Mordor just disappeared from my PS account and PS couldn't explain it, this isn't uncommon apparently!
I got the digital ps5 and series S. I have committed to digital this gen however I have a massive Blu ray collection so I am also a big fan of physical media. I am not finding the digital a big pill to swallow as I would of thought. Great vid!
I’m split down the middle when it comes to digital and physical games. If it’s a live service game I’ll never buy it physically I’ll buy digitally, but if it’s a normal game where there’s not a lot of live service features to it that I buy physically
Wii and 3DS online stores are also being closed down which is the only place where a lot of retro games can legitimately be accessed digitally. You would hope that everything on there becomes available on the switch but that’s a maybe and a who knows when for a lot of these games. On the other end a specific example of physical media being flawed is the 2nd gen Pokémon games for the gameboy(color) where your save is actually lost forever if the internal battery inside the cartridge dies.